Chimera in Beeston has not only become a focal point of the RPG and CCG communities in Nottingham, it has been nominated local business of the year several years running and has won that title against 'mainstream' businesses.

Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game, and accessories, crowdfunding roundup! Each week we’ll be looking at a few campaigns currently running that have caught our eye as well as occasionally speaking to some of the creators about their campaigns, or looking at some of the ‘behind the scenes’ business aspects of putting together, launching, operating and then delivering a crowdfunded project. If you have anything you’d like us to cover, or questions about anything we talk about, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly.

Long available in PDF format, the 1991 Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia is now available as both softcover and hardcover from DriveThruRPG. This collects the Basic, Expert, Companion, and Masters D&D sets (1983-85) in one volume, and is a perfect collectors' item.

The campaign that our group will be starting next week (and that I wrote a little bit about here last week) got me to thinking about martial arts role-playing games in general. I am probably by no means an aficionado of martial arts movies, or media, but I have enjoyed some Chinese martial arts films over the years (my first college roommate was/is a martial artist and fan of the movies). Plus, I am more of a fan of contemporary settings, and unfortunately the number of games that combine these two things are few. However, today I am going to talk about the Tianxia: Blood, Silk and Jade role-playing game from Jack Norris and Vigilance Press.

There's a new Drizzt Do'Urden trilogy on its way! Timeless, by R.A. Salvatore, will be released as a 432-page hardcover on 18th September for $27.99 as the start of a new trilogy set in Menzoberranzan, the Underdark city of the Drow.

Over 80 starships from various races, ranging from Class 0 shuttles and fighters all the way up to Class XVIII carriers and battleships, by way of cruisers, frigates, destroyers, liners, transports, freighters, and more! This book contains ready-made starships for use in your WOIN games (compliant with the Starship Construction Manual). Coming Soon!

In Mythras, player characters are tied to family, village, and cults and their quests change the world around them and influence the direction of society’s growth. Mythras is mythic in scope and the PCs create legends with their adventures. This review covers a newcomer’s overall impression of Mythras.

The next book (both covers - standard and special edition - shown below) is a monster book/multiverse guide called Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. On Monday the official press release will be coming with more information. Amusingly, the books that Mike Mearls and Nathan Stewart held up in today's "Fireside Chat" said "Tomb of Foes"; fortunately these are just mockups and the book is still being worked on for a May release. More info on Monday! [5 FEB UPDATED WITH PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT]

As the cold weather in the real world continues, we continue our theme on EN5ider, the 5th Edition patreon! Avalanches, frozen bridges, mammoth warriors, winter riders, and wolves in the storm await in this article by James J. Haeck; illustrated by Ellis Goodson.

Fantasy is now much more mainstream, so it's easy to forget how influential the debut of the Harry Potter franchise was on the genre. And yet despite the blockbuster success of the franchise we never got an official Harry Potter tabletop role-playing game -- for Dungeons & Dragons or any other system.

A rundown of the New Releases that should be hitting games stores this coming week! Board games, card games, RPGs, Wargames, and Miniatures... hopefully something for everyone! In addition to the games hitting your local store we also take a look at a few RPG PDF releases from the last week that we hope may be of interest. For more information about any of the physical products please contact your local games store.

We are unboxing the Starfinder Alien Archive Pawn Box, and taking a look inside. This pawn box includes precisely 326 cardstock pawns for use with the Starfinder RPG. The Starfinder Alien Archive Pawn Box is the second official pawn box produced Paizo Publishing for the Starfinder RPG, and not to be confused with Starfinder Core Rulebook Pawn Collection. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Sometimes I get my themes for the weekly Picks from the most fun and interesting places. In this case, my friend Lana Smith (AKA Alana Smith Brown of King of the Geeks fame) was asking about games in which her group could play fairies and experience fairy-tale style storytelling. Since I delved into the subject on her behalf, anyway, here's the fruits of that labor. There's some very fascinating games and ideas below, great for kids and adults alike! PS - Changed the order from the original posting due to Faery's Tale Deluxe having too small an image.

Hello again my well-traveled friends, you’ve come just in time to catch the latest edition of the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP! The Golem seems to be quite generous this time around, giving us plenty of Starfinder and Pathfinder (well, mostly Pathfinder) to chew through and anticipate. Let’s dive in!

Spanish company Burning Games have a reputation for great quality, not to mention good looking, games. They have been nominated for ENnies for two years running (Best Production Values in 2017, and winning a Silver ENnie for Best Free Product in 2016), were Golden Geek Game of the Year Runners Up with Faith: A Garden in Hell in 2016, as well as multiple nominations in other awards. This year they are gearing up to relaunch their Dragons Conquer America RPG Kickstarter, set in 1519 as two worlds collide, with the Spanish arriving in the Americas. We catch up with writer and designer, JC Obal, to find out his inspiration behind the game.

I was sent the below video by Keith & Tim, who say "Two readers and participants in the site reaching out. We'd like to share a Game of Thrones and Dungeons & Dragons inspired crossover video piece we made. We're huge fans of both properties and wanted to show how Game of Thrones perfectly blends into the world of D&D! The feedback we've received is that even if people don't play D&D, they 'get' how D&D works after watching this video. We had a blast doing this and hope you and your readers watching do as well!" Some NSFW language.

Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game, and accessories, crowdfunding roundup! This week see's a 5th edition adventure geared for young new DMs, a 5th Edition NPC book to help swell the ranks on your battlefields or city guard, some haunting tunes to play whilst playing your favourite horror games, enamel pins of our favorite (or worst) dice, and the return of Trinity. If you have anything you’d like us to cover, or questions about anything we talk about, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly.

Welcome to the Cypher System Creator Roundup! Unlocked during Monte Cook Games’Worlds of the Cypher SystemKickstarter campaign, the Cypher System Creator program is an option to distribute and/or sell official Cypher System crowd-sourced content. Setup within DriveThruRPG and RPGNow, the model is similar to the Storyteller’s Vault (World of Darkness), and the Explorer’s Society (7th Sea) in that individual creators can share their Cypher System content as long as it conforms to the content guidelines for the program, which can be found here.

This is going to be one of those "let's talk about the game I'm going to run" pieces where I look at a game and work through my processes of getting from here to a ready to run game. Our group is a fan of the Palladium system, having run through a rollicking game of the Rifts role-playing game previously. This time we are going to be playing their Ninjas & Superspies game.

EN World Reviews

Mists of Akuma may be the Meiji – Punk post-apocalypse RPG setting you never knew that you needed. The game enlists your character in the tragic tale that is Soburin, offering a dizzying array of possible cultural hooks to embrace.

Even though I’ve played and enjoyed just about every edition of Dungeons & Dragons, with an exception to 4th, I’ve pretty much stayed out of the fray in regards to D&D clones. I’ve somewhat maintained the semblance of a semi-regular D&D Basic campaign (live game) for about two years, primarily relying on the Rules Cyclopedia, and occasionally mixing (and experimenting) in elements from games like HackMaster as well as more recently, Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Like any role-playing alchemist, I’ll never stop mixing. And since Mazes & Perils Deluxe Edition is a clone of Holmes Basic D&D, I’m eager to take a closer look.

This is the Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone…. Mayday. Mayday…. We are under attack…. Main drive is gone… Turret number one not responding…. Mayday…. Losing cabin pressure fast calling anyone…. Please help…. This is the Free Trader Beowulf…. Mayday…. Bold explorers and brave travellers journey between the stars in Traveller the science fiction roleplaying game by Mongoose Publishing.

I love zines. And, really, who doesn't? Zines are the ultimate expression of the DIY (do-it-yourself) aesthetic that has always been central to role-playing games. With crowd funding sites like Patreon, zines can become, while perhaps not profitable but at least self-sustaining. Kobold Press is using the site to bring out their print zine for Dungeons & Dragons 5E, Warlock. Let's take a look at the most recent couple of issues.

Welcome once more to our monthly roundup of offerings from the Statosphere, the community-generated content portal for the Unknown Armies RPG. This month, we're taking a look at a trio of titles to drop into—or even kick off—your campaigns.